The Great Indian Paradox
When the first sunray of the year 2007 was struggling with the thick fog cover of January winter in Delhi, my sleep got splintered with the thud of the Newspaper, just landed in the balcony. The front page of Times of India had something very peculiar in stark contrast to its conventional attire. It contained a campaign called ‘India Poised’. In few beautiful words the campaign was depicting the picture of two India’s. One India which has everything and the other which has nothing. Times said though slowly the worst India is transcending to the side of better India, the journey is still difficult and long. The campaign might have been sent to archive to make way for something else keeping in view the business interest, but I failed miserably to wipe it out from my memory. Why? May be because India has poised to surpass the GDP of Japan by 2020 but yet 30% population of this country lives in absolute poverty. I term this as ‘The great Indian Paradox’. All those who have or had an opportunity to remain associated with this country would agree with me that diversity has always been a hindrance and also an impetus for growth in India.
Edward Luce the British born and Washington based reporter of Financial Times during his 5 years stint in India had witnessed the 'Great Indian Melodrama' and decided to pen down his memories into words. Moreover, what else prompted him to go ahead with this project is his wife ‘Priya’. ‘In Spite of the Gods’ and ‘Strange Rise of Modern India’ constitutes the two parts of the name the Author had chosen for the book. These two are itself seems to be contradictory in nature but the author has justified the name of the book through the contents it hold. Capturing the Indian diversity in few thousand words is like re-creating the beauty of TajMahal in a glass figurine. However, to keep his task structured the Author only focused on the factors which may stymie India from becoming a major global power.
The Author has distributed the whole book into eight distinct chapters of course having an introduction to the subject and a conclusion. While introducing the subject he tried hard to reason out the attraction of India to the western society. The country having abysmal resources some sixty years back has always attracted westerners to defect to their mother land and take shelter in its spiritually fertile land. But now India offers the world much more than spiritual recourse.
India a country which has more than a billion people, thousand castes and sub-caste, hundreds of dialect and more than 330 million gods! For any person who is remotely aware about India, these figures shall offer more confusion than any conclusion about India’s stupendous growth in last decade or so. Probably three cult figures of Indian political fraternity helped the Indian public in realizing the strength of Unity and they were M K Gandhi, J L Nehru and B Ambedkar, of course in their own leadership style.
Gandhi was a staunch supporter of village centered economy model for holistic growth whereas in independent India, Nehru initiated an economic model based on large scale industrialization by infusing a great amount of capital in large dams, steel manufacturing units etc with the sole aim to make India self reliance. But in the process he ignored the vast population of this country who needed basic education, health care and livelihood to grow on Human Development Index (HDI) parameters. The industries set up with the vision for self-reliance became more and more dependant on western countries for their insatiable need for basic machinery.
Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar the father of Indian constitution always abhorred Indian villages as hubs of ignorance and communal societies doing more harm than good. The reason for such prejudice is very much apparent due to the treatment he received being a member of dalit community in his early childhood. In spite of this it is he, who gave Indian lower caste community the voice they were struggling for from time immemorial and now in contemporary Indian political scenario no party can afford to alienate with them.
While analyzing the present Indian agriculture scenario Author observed a startling resemblance with medieval India conspicuously showing the great Indian divide being talked in preceding Paras. At one end India has accessibility to all modern gadgetry still majority of its land being ploughed by yoked bullocks in the similar way as it was done some three thousand year back. He termed this as ‘Schizophrenic Economy’ (as if each constituent of Indian Economy is absolutely unaware about the other factors). The mechanization of farming has been a distant dream reason being the growing population and ever decreasing land per head. One estimate shows that about 92% of Indian farmers have less than 2 hectares of agriculture land at their disposable which is supposed to take care of their livelihood. This resulted in large scale migration of agrarian work force to nearby urban localities further debilitating the abysmal urban infrastructure.
The Nehruvian economic model failed miserably in providing the Indian mass the livelihood which would have improved their socio-economic condition many fold than what we are witnessing today. But at the other hand a handful of people who had accessibility to the best resources (IITS and IIMs) and capital from banks and Financial Institutions are thriving in India by either creating products at higher end of value chain or serving their overseas clients through highly capital intensive delivery mechanism in stark contrast to labour intensive industry in China and elsewhere. This resulted in un-equitable distribution of wealth among the various strata of society. Further, the community which got itself ensconced in urban areas now trying to deny the same to other half of India the reason it will erode the present cheap labour source migrating from the villages. So, if India is serious about its unfortunate lot there is no option than to go for rapid urbanization in areas which are remotely accessible: a view expressed by Nandan Nilekeni, CEO, Infosys.
The author to make his views lucid has put forth a lot of illustrations here and there which either he came across in his personal meetings or in the form of views expressed by a variety of people belonging to various communities. One of the major problems that India today is facing is the inefficient functioning of its bureaucracy which has the mandate to deliver the benefits of various schemes at grass root level. While describing the functioning of today’s Indian Babus’ he sighted an event, where a clarification was sought with regard to usage of green/red ink in official notes instead of conventional blue/black. The matter took almost a year consuming precious times of top level bureaucrats and the final conclusion just like the problem was a baloney. But everywhere the scenario is not the same and similar. Like in southern part of India about 70% of funds allocated for poor reached to them whereas in North only the other side goes to the actual beneficiaries. Furthering his claim he put forward two instances; one the super cyclone which devastated Orissa in 1999 and the Tsunami that washed away thousands of costal hamlets of Tamilnadu into the sea in 2004. Now after eight years still the people of affected villages in Orissa are staying in relief camps and a regular source of income is still a distant dream whereas in Tamilnadu the rehabilitation job is almost over and the life is returning to normalcy at a greater speed. Why this contrast! May be the foremost reason is the efficiency of bureaucracy in delivering at grass root level and the other is awareness among local villagers about the funds being allocated for them by the Government. This is only a tip of the iceberg. The present bureaucratic governance system is myriad with problems and if India is serious to improve its overall Human Resource development index, it has to bring in accountability into this system for every rupee spent.
Going ahead with his discussions Mr Luce has touched upon the upsurge of Indian leaders not based on their merit but on the caste or community to which they belong. Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are the two populous states of India with 170 and 85 million of inhabitants, respectively. Now both of these states sidelined the two major political parties of India namely The Congress and BJP and supported the local parties based on their caste background. In Utttarpradesh now the political battle is between Bahujan Samaj Party being lead by Ms Mayawati and Samajvadi Party headed by Mulayam Singh Yadav. When the former has a extensive support from Dalit community the latter has a substantial support from Yadavs and Muslims. The reason is simple and clear, the local communities now want their voice to be heard on larger political dimension of India. The result, today two subsequent Governments at Centre is being run by 20-24 party coalition. Though it has its own demerits where local interest is placed first than National Interest but with fractured mandate given by people of India about which party should rule them from Delhi, there is hardly any alternate. Further the Author added that the present scenario might have some lineage with failure of National Parties in understanding the local problems and their own political agenda and philosophy. The Constitution of India had envisaged a secular state structure for India but on various occasions the narrow vote bank politics tattered this fabric. Now India is a secular state but it also provides for subsidies to Haj pilgrimage at one hand and on the other hand temple trusts being run by government administration and by offering huge amount of subsidies.
If the congress party is being run by generations of Gandhis’ with sycophants occupying all major party positions their arch rival Bhartiya Janata Party is overwhelmed by people who venerate the ideologies of hard core Hindu communal institution, the RSS. The Author devoted two separate chapters to find the genesis of the problem being faced by these two political rivals in the process of establishing themselves as National Party representing every cross section of Indian society. But recent election for various state assemblies shows a bleak picture for these two parties and the net beneficiaries are the local parties, as the Author on many occasions said ‘In India people don’t cast their vote, rather the vote their caste’.
Under present circumstances both Congress and BJP should reinvent themselves otherwise their fate will be unknown in another few decades. The former can strengthen itself by adopting democratic process for selection to party positions within its own ranks and the later should overcome the communal ideology to become a true centre-right wing of Indian political fraternity.
India was declared as a secular and democratic country by its constitution; but how much secular is a million dollar question. Time and again our political parties and their leaders used religious beliefs and sentiments of public as tools to meet their perverse personal/political needs. The results are Sahabano, Babri Mosque, Godhra carnage, Gujarat genocide and the list is endless.
Now India has 150 million Muslim population, more than its sibling Pakistan, which took shape to give Muslims their identity on wake of Indian independence on the perceived apprehension that India or Hindustan will not take care of their special needs. But the irony is that neither the people who choose to stay back in India got the status what they deserved nor their brothers who crossed borders were accepted by their hosts on the other side of international border. Further, the spurt of Muslim radicalism across the globe and in Jammu & Kashmir in India put them into hawk’s eyes of Indian administration and intelligence. In addition the oppression of Muslim women in their closely held societal structure stymied the overall intellectual growth of Muslim community pressing them to the brink of ignorance and religious fanaticism. The growth of Dar-ul-Uloom in Deoband and similar religious institutions elsewhere are acting like impervious veils of Muslim women, restricting the light of wisdom from penetrating the darkness of ignorance and pushing Muslim youths to the paths of terrorism, sabotage, crime, anti national activities etc. On the other hand the sudden rise of Hindu communal forces has acted as fuel in fire. However, still there are people who believe and acting towards strengthening the secular fabric of India. A silent revolution is on where now Muslim families spending substantial portion of their hard earned money in (English medium) education of their children. This movement should receive support from local and national government and should be encouraged in Muslim dominant localities of India. Further, the state sponsored alienation and the perennial suspicion towards them should be stopped immediately.
There are national and international forces which are trying to take benefit from these religious extremities. One of such country is Pakistan, which has never forgotten the wounds inflicted on it by Indian armed forces and always searched for opportunity to pay back India. Pakistan always supported cross border terrorism in India through Khalistan movement in Punjab and now in Jammu and Kashmir through various Militant organizations. Being a part of western observer of Indian affairs the Author said a decade back, in USA foreign policy India always came as hyphenation with Pakistan but now India has become a natural (democratic) ally for US to counter the growing military and economic supremacy of China. In present world economic landscape it is India and only India can put forth a formidable challenge before China. So, to give a concise account of western outlook towards Indian the Author devoted one full chapter called as ‘Triangular Dance’ vividly showcasing the growing chemistry between a developed economy, USA and two rapidly developing economies India and China. In this chapter the Author also reviewed critically the importance of BRIC (Brazil, India, Russia and China) countries and their cumulative bargaining power on varied economic issues like farm subsidy, free trade agreements, environmental restrictions. Global warming and similar issues on various Economic Summits across the globe.
In final chapters while summarizing his observations about India and various aspects of this country, vividly the Author draws a contrast picture between the old India and New India. Presently, with spread of education and social awareness India is witnessing a process called as ‘Sanskritization’, which is now pulling down the day old barriers between the upper caste and lower caste population. Now from the attires and social behavior it is impossible to predict the caste of an Indian. But India has some grass root level problem and her plan of action should focus on alleviating these problems at the earliest or else it will maim India and thwarting it from rising as a super power. Some of the major issues highlighted by the Author are (a) Universal literacy, (b) Child labour (about 40 Million) (c) Girl foeticide,(d) HIV cases (last revised figure stands 2-3 million affected persons instead of 5.7 Million as reported earlier) etc.
While summarizing India’s phenomenal growth in last decade the Author quoted T N Ninan, one of the revered economic editors of India, termed India as ‘One Percent Economy’. All major Human Development Index parameters increased 1% a year over these years in India, like declining of poverty rate (35-26% from 1991-2000), increase in literacy rate (52-65% from 1991-2001), increase in life expectancy (52-65 years from 1991-2001) and growing at this rate India would never achieve its long cherished dream of Global economic power in near future. To achieve this dream India has to accelerate its growth rate but at the same time ensuring equitable distribution of wealth across the board.
The Author drawing a stark contrast between China and other South East Asia’s economic tigers concluded that in spite of large variances among different regions India is growing and poised to be an economic power only because of its democracy. Although this system has its own set of limitations but the progressive growth of India from only a large populous country to an important economic power house is the endowment of our great leaders who bequeathed us with a robust democratic system of governance. The present euphoric state in India can only be sustained if India would focus on the potential elements which may stymie its growth. The Author pointed our four such major factors; One, the challenge to lifting 300 Million people out of absolute poverty at the same time ensuring better living conditions for others, two, curtailing rapid environmental degradation and participating actively with the developed economies in reducing green house gas emissions to minimum level, third, putting in place a mechanism to aware India’s vast population about HIV – Aids epidemic and finally protecting and strengthening India’s liberal democracy.
Mr Luce’s connection with India is beyond his professional interest because his wife is an Indian. The charm of India must have prompted him to put down his thoughts into words and while doing so his affection towards this country is explicit. In his five years of stay in India he had the opportunity to meet all tall political leaders, economists, social reformers, bureaucrats, actors and also the common man. He shared their though about India and being a financial reporter had access to a large repertoire of economic and other data. But, he had done a commendable effort in collating those data and his personal experiences into a beautiful book which provides a glimpse of India then and now and providing a link between its past and present. While closing the book the author has shown his extraordinary writing skill through a resplendent metaphoric description of why India is ‘India’. A must read for every Indian in India and elsewhere to know the mesmerizing beauty of its people through the eyes of its inhabitants.
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